Of chicago



J. M. SIPITZGLASS.

' now' METER. APPLCATION FILED MAY i9. 1915.

, ///A 49 fo u Patented De@ 23, 1919.

Pzrteutm. Deo. 23,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 J. M. SPITZGLASS.

FLOW METER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I9. i915- Laaarca.'

.moon In. srIrzeLAssfoI' CnICaco, ILLINOIS, AssIcI'roa To REPUBLIC ILow mareas coureur, or CHICAao, ILLINoIs, avconronarrou or ILLINoIs.

FLOW-METER Specification of Letters Patent. v partialit@ Upg., 2,3, 1919,

Application led May 19, 1915. Serial No. 29,1163.-

To all lwhom it may concern: p

Be it known that l, JACOB M. SrrrzcLAss, a

' citizen ot the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllllnois, have invented certain new and use-- 1111 improvements in Flow-Meters, of which the following is a specification'.

rllhis invention relates to interential fluid meters depending in their action upon the pressure diderence created by the [How of Huid in a given conduit and transmitted by suitable means, the pressure dijerence being a function ot the flow and proportional to the square of the velocity ot' ,the given duid.

llt is the object of this device to provide accurate and convenient means whereby the pressure dierence balanced by a liquid coltitl umn in a lll-tube is made to .actuate an ammeter and watt meter, to indicate or register on their corresponding dials a continuous amount of electrical energy directly proportional to the velocity of the Huid, or to the volume oi'uid passing through the conduit;

@ther objects will appear hereinafter.

lin the accompanying drawings, lfigurc 1 is a view, partly in section, oi' a flow meter constructed in accordance with the principles ot this invention applied to a vertical pipe and having electrical indicating and recording mechanism `in connection therewith; Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the electrical contacts and connections; Fig. 3 is asectional view of the Pitot tube connection with the steam pipe; Fig. a is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a. sectional view show- Fignates vgenerally a casing in which there 1s an upper chamber 2 and a lower chamber having communication with pipes 4r and 5 respectively.` A threaded aperture 6 is formed in the casing between thetwo chambers, and in this aperture a shell 7 is secured which extends from the bottom of' the lower chamber and upwardly in the upper chamber 2. The lower portion of the casing is formed with passages 8 forming communication between, the lower chamber 3 and the lower end of the shell 7, and within the shell 7 at the' bottom thereof are projections 9 which form an inlet and prevent liquid trom surging into the bottom of the shell through the passages. A cleanout passage 11 has communication with the passagers 8 at thebottom and a plug l2 1s provided tor normally closing this passage 11. At the upper end of the shell it 1s formed with apertures 13 through which llquld may pass from the upper chamber opening v2 to the inside of the shell 7, and supported bythe vshell at its top is a resistance coil designated generally 'by the reference numeral 14 having a plurality of spools 15 upon which are wound conductors connected 1n series forming a reslstance 16 (see Fig.

2) to which atcertain points are connected l Contact conductors 17 which extend downwardly from the resistance coil and are so arranged that the lower extremities form a series of contact points arranged in the form of a spiral and so graduated thatwheny a liquid electrical conductor in the bottom of the shell 7 .is raised it will make contact successively with the extremities of the conductors 17 thereby cutting od or short-circuiting portions of the resistance as the liquid rises. `This coil 111 is preferably formed with an insulating piece 18 at4 the bottom which rests upon the upper end ot the shell 7 and with an insulating piece 19 at the top in which is a contact terminal 20 (see Fig. 2).. A cap 21 is provided tor the casing 1 which makes a Huid-tight clos# y ure therefor and presses against the insulation 19 holding the coil rmly in place, the

top andbottom insulation 18 and 19 serving also -to hold the spools properly spaced trom'each other and inthe chamber 2. rlhe cap 21 is formed with a threaded opening 22 in which aplug 23 `lis secured, similar to a spark plug of a gas engine, and connected to this plug is a contact maker 2t which eni I gages the contact 20 when the plug is in place.

To each of the pipes 4i and 5 is connected a four-way tting 25. The pipes L1 andI 5v are connected by means of a pipe connection i 26 from their fittings 25 through an equalizer valve 27. 'lhe opposite end ofeach litting is provided Vwith a plug 28 by means of which access may be had to the interior of 'either pipe 4 or separately for lling the by the flow of liuid in a conduit. In the 'present embodiment of this invention, a litoty tube is shown as one satisfactory means for accomplishing the desired result.

' Connected to each of the pipes 4 and 5 through a valve 29 and a pipe connection 30 is a condensing vessel 31, the two vessels being preferably formed in an integral vstructure and each having a passage 32 com- A municating therewith adjacent the top. A

plug member 33 (see Fig. 3) of a Pitot tube is connected by means of a threaded collar 34 to the vessels 31 and has a plurality of passages 35 therein which communicate 4with the openings 32 respectively. The

opposite end of this plug member 33 has staticand dynamic tubes 36 and 37 which are in communication with the passages 35 and both of the tubes are provided with perforations 38 spaced apart predetermined distances and arranged in line so that they tothe can be placed in directlyopposite positions with respect to the flow of fluid in the pipes, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5. This plug member of the Pitot tube is secured to a pipe 39 in which the flow of iiuid is to ibe measured in any suitable manner as by means of a plug 40 threaded in thev pipe and held in place on the plug member 33 'by means of a gland 41, a collar 42 secured plug member and suitable packing material 43.

When measuring the iow of a condensable fluid, such as steam, the steam is condensed inthe vessels 31 and fills the pipes 4 and 5 and a portion of each of the chambers 2 and' 3, as indicated by the reference vnumeral 44. An electrical conducting Huid,

- s uch as mercury, is disposed in the bottom of the lower chamber 3 (designated'by the reference numeral 45) so as to partially fill the chamber and to extend upwardly within. the shell 7 to make an electrical connection with the contact wires 17. Between the mercury and the water in the chamber 2 an insulating liquid must be employed otherwise theaction of the resistance 'on the spools 15 will be impaired and for that reason an insulating liquid, such as mineral oil, is placed in the chamber 2 and lills the shell 7 above the electrical conducting fluid 45. Thus it is seen that the pressure in the dynamic tube 37 of the Pitot tube is communicated through the pipe 5 to the mercury Ain the well or chamber 3 and the i mercury is caused to rise within the shell 7 to make contact successively with the several be obvious that the casing 1 may be located adjacent the 'pipe 39 in which the fiow is to be measured, or it may be located at a distance therefrom and supported upon any suitable base or support 47;

In order to indicate the instantaneous iow and the volume of fluid passing through the pipe electrically, an indicating meter 48, a graphic recording meter 49 and an integrating watt meter 50 may be provided. The indicating and recording meters are in the nature of an indicating and recording ammeter and the other meter is in the nature of the ordinary electrical watt meter. These meters are connected to a proper resistance 51 and a conductor 52 with the plug 23 and thus through the resistance 1G to ground on casing 1 and are connected through a transformer winding 53 which furnishes the source of electrical supply at the proper voltage to ground indicated b v they reference numeral 54. The reference numeral 55 designates the primary winding of a transformer through which power is given to the meters which in turn receives its pow-er from the source of supply controlled by the switch 56. It is obvious that these meters, the specific construction of which is not concerned in the present inveution, may `beso made as to indicate and record the instantaneous flow or volume passing through the pipe 39 according to the following theory:

When a pressure difference balanced by a liquid column in a U-tube is made to indicate the velocity or volume of a i'luid passing through a given conduit. the relation between the quantities is expressed in the following equation:

V=K(H)% (1) in which V represents the units of volume passing through the condult 1n a glven unit lume of fluid passing through the conduit it is only necessary that the same current should be proportional to the square root of the height of the liquid columi balancing the velocity pressure, or pressuiie difference created by the fiowt The principle utilized to obtain this roportionality is a variation of Ohms aw from which it follows that when a number of electrical conductors are attached to a continuous resistance at various distances from the positive end of the resistance, the amount of current that will pass through the incarna Vconductors forming aV closed circuit of'an electromotive forceV will depend only upon the least resistance which is left between the nearest conductor Iincontact and the posif' tive end ot the resistance coil.

'lhe reslstanoe coil is made up of a series ot spools terminating in a plurality of conlll ductors overhanglng a mercury column in the low pressureside ofthe ll-tube to which the diderential pressure ol the .How is transmitted from the main conduit. 'llhe spools are connected together'forming a continuous resistance, and the conductors forming the contact points are attached to the spools at the necessary resistance intervals which will vbe shownA subsequently. rlhe contacts are made to terminate in the form of a helix,

each contactloeing uniformly shorter than the other in close succession. An electro-motive force ot a positive constant voltage is interposed between the positive end ot the resistance coil and the mercury column which also forms a part oit the ground, and

when'the mercury column touches the contact point oil' a conductor it allows a given amount of current to pass through the cirlll lib

cuit, this current for the positive voltage depending only upon the resistance lett between the contact point and the electroinotive lorce'ot the circuit. rlhe succession et the contact fromv one conductor to another corresponds to the rise ortall ofthe mercury column due to the variation in pressure ditlerence lcaused by the change in the How ol the Huid creatingthe 'lhe resistance of the coil is so divided between-the conductors. ilorming the contacts that the current tlowing through the circuit is proportional to the square root of the height 'between the vhighest .and the lowest conductors that come'v in contact with the mercury column, which height represents the pressure diderence, since the lowest conductor barely touches the mercury column when it is at zero or no How level.

The Vresistance in ohms to be inserted be# tween the positive end of the electro-motive torce and each conductor in `the set, is determined by the application ot @hms law as tol-lows liet l-l be the pressure dider'ence ininches ol mercury when a given conductor comes in contact. lrom the relatlonv shown abovelhet l be the current in amperes passing .through the circuit at the pressure ditlerence l-l, then'in order that ll should 'be proportional to' V, it is necessary to make l proportional to Khlll or teuren lin which K1 is another constant which bears a dennite relation to K.4 (Any quantity proportional to -a variable is also ressu-re di'erence lroportional to a constant'times this variable.)

Now, let E be the electro-motive force measured in volts; R the resistance meas- For instance, assuming an available electromotive force of 110 volts,r and it is desired to pass one ampere oit' current at a height of one inch di'erential pressure, that is making K1 equal to unity, then for lil-:1,

R=llo=llu ohms:

for ll'll=, i l l 'new isc ohms,

and so on, having the total resistance ia ohms from the positive'end to each one ot the conductors in the set equal to the electromotive torce divided by the square root ot the vertical distance betweenthe contact end of this conductor and the zero position of the mercury, in the ll-tube, which has to be elej vated bythe di'erential pressure in order to ed'ect-the contact ot the conductou lt will be noticed that without this special `arrangement et resistances it is absolutely impossible to makethe total amount ol electrical energy as. integrated by a watt meter to represent'the volume of flow in the Huld conduit. rlhat is, all devices that are made to indicate variable heights of a liquid col umn either by make and break oi2 acircuit lll@ ldd

llld

or -by a continuous circuit in proportion to the height of the column, -could not be ap# plied to integrate the quantity ot a How,

because the integrating device would accumulate the instantaneous heights ,ot the column and not the square roots ol" the instantaneous heights which are necessary to represent the true How ot the fluid in the p lt is obvious that'this arrangement does away with all laborious calculations in A equatin various volumes ot How to the correspon ing heights. lt also does away with the uneven division ot scales on the indicating dials of the instruments necessitated by the square root proportionality ol the How to the height ol the balancing column. ln

llt

rizo

'the instrument containing the conductors "current, from which the constant ratio of `one to the other is determined for all possible values.

When this device is employed for measuring a condensable vapor, it is necessary to prevent the water of .condensation from; coming in contact with the conductors and the resistance coil. It was found by actual experimenting that the presence of water would make the instrument inoperative by short-circuiting the contacts and also by deteriorating the insulation of the conductors. For this purpose the compartment of and the resistance coil is lled with an insulating oil so as to form a seal against the water lof condensation. It was found that the coil had to be placed inside the seal, as no stuiiingbox material could be found that would eliminate leaks if the conductors were carried through insulated openings in the casing to the outside. With the resistance coil inside, the current is transmitted through -aspark plug at the top of the instrument.

What I claim is:

1. A flow meter having a plurality of resistances with contacts therefor spaced apart and the resistances connected in series, the resistance of the coil thus formed being proportional to the square root of the distance between the first and last contacts, and

means to make electrical connection with the contacts in succession.

2. In a flow meter, the combination with a resistance having a plurality of contacts connected thereto at intermediate points with vthe extremities of the contacts ar- A ranged in the form of a spiral, and means to make electrical connection with said contacts in succession, the resistance between the contacts being so proportionedV that the current iowing through the resistance from a constant potential source of power is proportion-al to the square root-of the height between the lirst and last contacts.

3. In a How meter, the combination with a resistance having a plurality of contact points arranged intermediate the ends there of and in succession, the resistance in ohms from one end of the resistance to each one of the contacts being equal tothe impressed electro-motive force divided by the square root of the verticaldistance of the contact from a predetermined zero position, and means controlled by the ilow of'the fluid to be measured for making electrical connection with the various contacts.

4. In a flow" meter, the combination with a casin having an upper chamber and a lower c amber, a shell extending between and into the two chambers, means for transnaespes mitting differential pressure due to the flow comprising static and dynamic tubes connected separately with the said chambers respectively, a resistance coil comprising sep- `arate resistances with contacts depending therefrom within the said shell, the lower extremities of which are arranged in the form of a spiral, electrical measuring instruments connected to the coil and receiving current from a conducting Huid disposed in said well to engage the lowermost ends of the contacts in succession .in accordance with the differential pressure between said tubes.

5. A ilow meter comprising a casing with two chambers therein, means extending into and connecting the chambers forming a well between and in each of them, electrical indicating and recording mechanism comprising a plurality of contacts arranged in the form of an ascending spiral in said well, an electric conducting li uid in the well, means for varying the height of they electrical conducting liquid in the well by differential pressure in the said chambers due to the flow, and a valve in each tubular connection.

6. A continuous flow meter comprising a casing with two chambers therein, means connecting the chambers forming a well between and within each of them, electrical indicating and recording mechanism comprising a plurality of contacts arranged at different heights in said well and free from the wall thereof, an electric conducting liquid in the well, means for varying the height of the electrical conducting 'liquid in the well by differential pressure in the said chambers comprising a Pitot tube with separate static and dynamic tubes and their respective chambers, and an equalizing pipe between the said tubular connections and between the valves and the casing having a controlling valve therein.

7. In a flow meter, a casing having an upper chamber and a lower chamber, a sleeve secured to the casing and extending into both of the said chambers, a tubular connection with the bottom of the upper chamber and another tubular connection with the top of the lower chamber whereby 'a heavy electrical conducting liquid may be contained in the bottom of the lower chamber and in the bottom of the sleeve, and an insulating liquid may be contained in the top of the sleeve 'and the top of the upper chamber with a liquid lighter than the electrical conducting liquid and heavier than the insulating liquid at the top of the lower chamber and at the bottom of the upper chamber.

8. A flow meter comprising a casing with an upper chamber havin an inlet at the bottom and a lower cham er having an inlet at the top, a shell secured to the casing between the said chambers forming communication and extending into each of said chambers,

an electrical conducting liquid in the bottom of the lower chamber and of the shell, an insulating liquid at the top of the shell and in the upper chamber, and means for introducing another liquid under dillferential pressure to the said chambers for raising the height of the conducting liquid in the shell, and electrical apparatus having a resistance element disposed in the shell, the ohmic resistance of which is varied by the change in height of the electrical conducting liquid in the said shell. y

9. lln a How meter, a casing formed with two chambers one directly above the other, a well 'formed by a shell extending between andinto each of the said chambers, and a arating the chambers directly from each other but forming a well communicating with each of the chambers at the top and bottom of the shell, dierent liquids in the chambers, and a diiierent liquid in the well for separating the liquids in the chambers.

In rtestimony whereof I haversigne'd my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 6th day of May, A. D. 1915.

vJACOB M.-SlPlTZGLASS. Witnesses:

CHARLES H. SEEM, Keur W. Wennen.. 

